Life Transitions & Stress
A new job, a loss, a relationship ending, becoming a parent, getting older, retiring. Transitions shake loose things we thought were settled. They ask us to let go of one version of ourselves before we’re sure who comes next.
Sometimes the hardest part isn’t the change itself — it’s figuring out who you are on the other side of it.
We tend to underestimate how much of our sense of self is tied to the roles, routines, and relationships that define us. When those shift — even by choice — it can trigger anxiety, grief, loss of direction, or a quiet identity crisis that’s hard to name.
Major life transitions often surface older patterns too. The anxiety that shows up during a career change may have roots that go back much further. The grief after a loss may carry weight from losses that were never fully mourned. Transitions create an opening — sometimes whether we want one or not.
I help people move through major life transitions with more clarity, steadiness, and self-understanding. That might mean making sense of what you’re actually feeling beneath the surface, understanding why this transition is hitting harder than you expected, reconnecting with your values and what matters most to you, and building the inner resources to meet what’s coming.
This isn’t about moving on quickly. It’s about moving through — with more of yourself intact.
Chronic stress deserves its own mention. Not the acute stress of a difficult moment — but the slow accumulation of pressure that builds when too much is being demanded of you for too long. Work, family, finances, health, caregiving, uncertainty. The body keeps score even when the mind keeps pushing.
Left unaddressed, chronic stress erodes emotional regulation, relationship quality, physical health, and the capacity for joy. I draw on CBT and MBCT to help people interrupt the stress cycle, identify what’s driving it, and make meaningful changes — internally and externally.
Start with a conversation